Prep Boys Hoops: Aiden Chang, Aquin defeat Dakota 70-41

“I’m not sure those were dunks. I would put quotes around it,” coach Rich Chang said Thursday after two Bulldogs had their first career dunks in a 70-41 blowout of arch-rival Dakota.

His son, Aiden Chang, went first with a two-handed dunk that barely scraped over the rim. Andrew Martin followed with a carbon-copy dunk. Both rattled for a second and dropped, helped by a two-handed pull that dipped the rim slightly.

“The best thing a basketball player can do is get their first dunk,” the 6-foot-1 Martin (14 points) said.

“Before games, I have so much adrenaline, I can throw it off the backboard and dunk it,” the 6-2 Chang (22 points, seven rebounds) said. “I thought that was going to be a nice dunk, but I didn’t get up as high as I’d like. It went down, so I’m happy with it. Especially against Dakota in a rivalry game. It was fun.”

The Bulldogs (6-0, 2-0 NUIC) usually don’t dunk. And they don’t even shoot 3-pointers either; they were 1-for-6 Thursday. They simply get good shots after good shots.

“We teach the guys discipline,” coach Chang said. “That’s what we do from Day 1. The offense is geared toward shot selection and getting to the rim, and the guys ran it to perfection.”

The no 3-pointers approach — or at least rare 3-pointers — is a new turn.

“That’s weird for Aquin,” Aiden Chang said.

“We usually shoot five in the first quarter, but we’re making a point this year to move the ball around and get nice, easy layups.”

Aiden Chang said last year the team averaged 12 or 13.

“We’re averaging about five this year. Coach made an emphasis in the offseason to get to the basket, and it’s working for us.”

Aquin looked like it would blow out Dakota (1-1, 1-1) from the start, but the Indians overcame an 8-1 deficit with a 13-4 run to close the first quarter. Dakota’s 6-5 second-team All-State guard Brett Benning (18 points, 15 rebounds) had eight rebounds in that first quarter.

“He’s a great rebounder for us,” coach Mike Bartelt said. “He needs to do that. He can control the boards because he’s so big and long out there. And he jumps.”

Dakota trailed only 29-27 at the half and tied it with the opening basket of the second half. Aquin then went on a 21-0 run over the next seven minutes.

“It was 21? I didn’t know it was that much,” Aiden Chang said. “We took it to them and just started running the floor instead of trying to keep them in the halfcourt.”

“We prepared really well for this game and a had a lot of time to do it,” Rich Chang said. “To be honest, we overprepared. At halftime, I just turned them loose and let them do what they do well and I stayed out of the way.”

What Aquin does best is share the ball. Anthony Townsend added 15 points and Krisean Coffee 11 and Micah Stovall had eight rebounds.

That was way too much for Dakota.

“I was really pleased with how the first half went,” Bartelt said, “but our inexperience showed in the second half. The turnovers, the lack of execution. Aquin is a good team. They are going to take advantage of every mistake you make.

“That (21-point run) was hard to take, but Aquin is going to make some runs on a lot of teams like that. They have so many quality kids.”